Akranes Factory Starts Freezing Capelin Roe

ICELAND - Capelin roe from Faxi REs landing is being frozen as of last week to get the production line up and running before the roe reaches full maturity.

Gunnar Hermannsson, who manages capelin roe production at the HB Grandi factory in Akranes said that this is no indicator of how the rest of the season will develop.

"We were optimistic last year when saw a western migration of capelin, but the roe were short on content as well as maturity and were unsuitable for production.

"We had expected that fishing would continue well into March, but as so many of us remember, the bottom fell out of the fishery as if a flag had been waved."

Like many others, Gunnar Hermannsson is concerned about the weather and how it will affect the fishing during the roe season.

"The forecast doesn’t look good today but that’s not something that we can rely on, or so the skippers tell us.

"We hadn’t expected to receive any capelin for roe production yesterday, but the fish Faxi landed had been caught in the lee of the Westmann Islands. Ingunn AK is now also alongside with some excellent capelin on board," Gunnar Hermannsson said.

A staff of close to a hundred work in roe extraction and freezing at HB Grandi’s Akranes plant while the season lasts.

Most of these are staff from the company’s fish production plant, along with locals from the town and the region who also take part in the season, which could last up to three weeks if conditions allow.